Digging in for the long haul -- that's how the U.S. Director of National Intelligence characterized Vladimir Putin's strategy as his invasion of Ukraine enters its 3rd month. DNI Avril Haines, in testimony before a Senate committee, described Russia's effort in Eastern Ukraine as a slow moving slog ... it's the U.S. intelligence assessment that Putin is hoping the attention of NATO and the West on Ukraine starts to wane over time.

So what's the latest from the Donbas region, where the majority of recent fighting is happening ... is Mariupol still not totally under Russian control ... and is the war in Ukraine turning into a stalemate? We'll ask.

We'll then check in with one of the millions of Ukrainian families that was forced to pick up and move to avoid Russian troops, refugees within their own country.

But we start with an update on the fighting and what the American intelligence community believes are Vladimir Putin's goals to create a "land bridge" stretching from Russian-controlled Crimea all the way to the Ukrainian city of Odessa.

That may very well be what Putin wants, but can his beat up military actually achieve that?

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